Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors.

So sorry it took SO long to update! To be honest, there's really no excuse to why I haven't been updating. Other than the fact that I've been having extreme writers block. Believe me, I've tried to write for it, but all the chapters come out absolutely awful. I hope this one is okay! :)
Um, just to let you guys know, this chapter is going to be about Ravenstar and his group. I realize that it's supposed to go Sible/Ravenstar, but I'm really limited to writing about Sible right now. I'll let you all know when she'll be coming in again! :)

Chapter 11

Ravenstar yawned, stretching his jaws wide and padding quietly out of his make-shift nest. He'd been staying in Caddie's camp with his group until the golden she-cat was well enough to travel.

He sighed, looking up at the stars. He glanced over to where all the cats were sleeping, and yawned once more. Suddenly, a thought that he hated to think about struck him.

What if EchoClan never succeeds? What if this is all just a failed attempt at making a Clan and we all fail?

Ravenstar flattened his ears as the wind howled by, whipping at his ears. Narrowing his eyes, he saw clouds slightly cover the moon. Did StarClan not want him to think thoughts like this? He lowered his head, trying to apologize for not believing hard enough.

Ravenstar wondered if he was even cut out to be a Clan cat anymore, but shook his head roughly.

No, he thought determinedly, I'm basically a leader now, I can do this. Besides, I think ThunderClan would enjoy a visit from the long lost Ravenpaw.

Stifling a mew of laughter, Ravenstar padded over to his nest, trying once more to get to sleep.

XXX

"Ravenstar, Ravenstar!" A small mew squeaked in his ear. Ravenstar opened his eyes, and then narrowed them against the bright sunlight. Nia was parading around, trying to wake him.

"What is it, Nia?" The black tom asked groggily.

"Mother says we are fit enough to travel!" Nia squealed happily, a purr escaping her jaws. The small she-cat had taken her fathers death quite well, and had even assisted in his burial, which Caddie insisted they had. They were quite forgiving cats, though Ravenstar still believed they hated Ring for what they had done to them.

Another worry the new leader had was about Caddie's kits. Just recently she had found out she was carrying them, and he didn't want them to be hurt on the journey. They were still days away from getting anywhere near sun-drown-place. Ravenstar had no idea how long it would take them to get to sun-drown-place, not to mention getting lost on the way there.

"Really?" he asked, sitting up and stretching. By now, Nia had calmed down enough to sit in front of him. Beckoning with his tail for the young cat to follow, Ravenstar padded over to where Caddie was talking to Lani.

"You're well enough to travel?" he mewed once he'd gotten Caddie's attention.

"I believe I am," the golden cat mewed, her white striped tail swaying back and fourth. "I'd have to be in another battle for the wounds to open again, and I don't think traveling could hurt me too much. Besides, I'm a strong cat!"

Ravenstar let out a mrrow of amusement, Caddie was always so sure about everything, but that was one of her good qualities.

"So when will we set off?" Lani asked, narrowing her eyes playfully at Nia, who'd been begging for a play-fight since she'd woken.

"Sun-high," Ravenstar meowed, waiting for the other cats' approval. The others all nodded.

"Sun-high it is," Lani confirmed, her paws itching to start traveling again.

XXX

Sun-high came and went, and the group was still walking when the sun was setting. Not a cat had complained they were tired yet, and that was a good sign. Ravenstar glanced over all of them to make sure they were okay, and then started ahead again.

"Has Bluestar visited you lately?" Barley asked suddenly, startling the black tom.

"Uh–no!" Ravenstar blurted out at the sudden question. Barley looked at him questionably and then nodded slowly. Ravenstar sighed, wondering just when Bluestar would show up. He was starting to lose direction, and decided to make camp where they were.

It wasn't much of a clearing, but there was an old den with the slightest trace of fox scent. So stale, it had to be almost a moon old since the creature was last there.

The small group fit snuggly in the den, yet Ravenstar still wasn't able to sleep. A small patch of moonlight seeped through the opening of the den, and Ravenstar looked at the sleeping forms of his new friends. He hoped he'd get a sign tonight, showing him where to go.

Suddenly, a sweet cat scent wafted over him. Whipping his head up, Ravenstar tried to make out where the scent was coming from. Standing up slowly, he followed it until he was led outside the den. Glancing upward, Ravenstar caught sight of Spottedleaf, sitting on a nearby rock.

"Spottedleaf!" he gasped, racing towards the starry tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Looking for a sign?" she asked in an amused tone. Ravenstar shuffled his paws.

"Well…err…yes?"

"Look to the sun…"

"Erm, do you mind repeating that? Look to the sun?" Ravenstar asked, perplexed. But the StarClan warrior had vanished, leaving her sweet scent in the breeze. The black tom thought over what she had said: Look to the sun.

"Does that mean follow the sun?" he wondered aloud. Figuring it was his only chance at finding sun-drown-place, he decided that was the only way. Follow the sun.

XXX

After finding out the directions, Ravenstar had gotten a goodnight sleep. All worries aside, the tom stood up and began waking the others. Tally and Bane had already been awake, and had caught enough prey for the whole group to eat that morning.

"Thank you, I would have forgotten all about food if you two hadn't hunted!" Ravenstar purred. Lani was already trying to finding out how to beat Bane at his hunting, and had scheduled a battle for them to have in the future. Ravenstar laughed, all of these cats were getting along, and that was great to know.

Swiping his tongue over his jaws, Ravenstar announced that they leave while the sun was rising.

Look to the sun, he thought over and over. None of the other's questioned his judgment on where they were going.

While walking, Ravenstar thought back on when he Firestar, and Graystripe were still apprentices. How they had all risen since then. Still, Ravenstar felt weird when being called by his leader name. He never really had been a warrior, he had never been Ravenwing.

Thinking back to present times, Ravenstar noticed that he'd been staring at the sun too long. Blinking the glare from his eyes, he kept his gaze lowered just below the sun, so he wouldn't lose his direction.

Will Firestar be happy to see me? He wondered worriedly, was Firestar even okay? Alive, even?

Shuddering at the thought, Ravenstar kept his mind on other things. Like finding more cats, for example.

Suddenly, a whirl of gray and white fur came hurtling towards the group, knocking Ravenstar and Bane over.

"Get off of our territory!" came a tom's voice. A young tom, by the sound of it.

"And stay off!" another voice commanded.

"Don't attack!" Ravenstar yowled to his group, noticing how small their attackers were. There were three of them, and they were just about the size of apprentices, like Nia.

"Get off me, you mangy fur ball," spat Bane, knocking a she-cat to the side.

"Hey!" All three of them protested at once.

"Peace, young ones," Caddie's soothing voice mewed. Nia's fur was puffed up so she looked twice her size, obviously not wanting to look like the weakest cat of the group.

"Peace?" the young gray and white tom scoffed, flattening his ears, "How can there be peace when there's enemies on our territory!"

"Shut up, Moss, don't you realize there's more of them than there is of us?" a small blue-gray she-cat hissed, her blue eyes flashing. Another she-cat stood off to the side, the same big blue eyes round with fear.

"Well, we have Father to protect us!" the tom retorted.

Right on cue, a large longhaired white tom came crashing through the bushes, a snarl masked on his face. Stepping forward so he was in front of the three young cats, he let out a growl.

"What are you doing here?"

"We don't mean any harm," Ravenstar meowed quickly, "We're just passing through."

"Oh, like I haven't heard that before. If you're just passing through, then why bring such a large amount of cats?" the white tom snarled.

"Like it's any of your business," Lani growled, unsheathing her claws, "But we're traveling. You get it? Tra-vel-ing."

"Don't treat me like a kit," the rogue hissed, unsheathing his claws and looking more threatening than Lani.

"I said we don't mean any harm." Ravenstar meowed, louder this time.

"Well I said—" before the white tom could finish, Lani hurtled herself at him, bowling him over and clawing at his flank.

"Father!" the smallest she-cat wailed in fright, launching herself at Lani.

"Don't you dare harm the young cats!" Ravenstar hissed to his group, running over to try and knock Lani off the white tom.

"I said no harm, Lani!" Ravenstar growled, shoving the she-cat off the rogue. Both cats were bleeding slightly, but Lani was bleeding more from the small gray she-cats attempts at fighting her.

The rest of Ravenstar's group was just trying to dodge the other small cats' moves.

"What were you thinking?" Ravenstar asked Lani in disbelief, ignoring the white tom's growls towards them.

"I'm sorry! I–err…lost my temper." Lani mewed guiltily, bowing her head. For once, Ravenstar felt like a true leader.

"Uhm…" Ravenstar started, not sure what to say. He flicked his tail, signaling Lani went to stand with the others.

"I'm truly sorry for her behavior," Ravenstar said, dipping his head to the rogue.

"Whoa!" The white tom suddenly burst out, staring at Lani in envy. "I've never met a cat that could beat me in a fight! Especially with one of my kits attached to their side."

Ravenstar's jaw dropped. Was this just how cats were like on this side of the forest? Shaking his head, he stared at the rogue in wonder.

"What?" Lani asked, just as perplexed as Ravenstar. The toms 'kits' eyes gleamed in appreciation at their father.

The white tom looked confused now, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just said.

"Um…" the rogue meowed, glancing over his kits, "None of you were hurt, right?" Before the kits could answer, Tally meowed, "None of us would ever harm a cat young enough to be an apprentice."

Ravenstar was shocked, and stared at Tally. She'd been paying attention to the Clan discussion! He was proud to know that the she-cat had picked out easily which cats were old enough to be an apprentice or not.

"A…what?" the rogue asked, interested and confused at the same time. Ravenstar's ears pricked at the thought of them joining EchoClan. But then he forced himself to calm down. He'd been lucky to get this many cats in the first place, he couldn't just jump into he conversation like any other. Besides, he didn't know if this weird rogue was still hostile towards them.

It seemed that right when the white tom's attitude changed, his kits' did too. Ravenstar's ears twitched in confusion.

"An apprentice is what a Clan calls a cat in training to become a warrior."

"Did you say Clan cat?" the tom asked. Ravenstar nodded.

"Don't be rude father!" The small gray she-cat spoke up, puffing up her fur, "tell them your name!"

"Oh, right. I'm sorry, my name is Aria." The white tom meowed, seemingly more interested in the word Clan than telling the cats his name. Ravenstar noticed all signs of hostility were vanished at the word, too.

"I'm Mint," the gray she-cat mewed, and then pointed with her tail to the other two. "This is my sister Misty, and my brother Moss."

Ravenstar bowed his head to the cats, and then looked at Aria again.

"You know about the Clans?" Ravenstar asked. Aria nodded.

"An old cat named Purdy told me about them, I didn't think he was telling the truth."

Ravenstar gasped, this cat knew Purdy? Were they that far already? He shook his head slightly, Purdy was a traveling cat, Brambleclaw had told Ravenstar about him, and so Purdy had probably come this way on his own. Perhaps if Purdy were still alive, he could help them find their way to sun-drown-place.

"Are you a Clan cat?" Aria asked, his eyes huge with admiration.

"I am," Ravenstar meowed, sitting up straighter.

"I'm honored to meet you," Aria meowed, glancing around, looking like he didn't know what to say next. Ravenstar knew he couldn't rush the whole Clan bit, so he decided to ask a few more questions.

"What do you know about the Clans?"

"Well, I know that there's a leader, warriors, a cat that heals, apprentices, kit-bearers, and elders…?" Aria narrowed his eyes, trying to remember.

"Very good," Ravenstar's eyes widened at the cat's knowledge, "Would you happen to know where this Purdy is now?"

"I'm sorry. No." the tom meowed, uncertain.

"Can we join your Clan!?" Mint burst out, her face glowing with excitement.

Aria gasped and slapped his tail over his daughter's mouth. Ravenstar stared at the small cat in respect. She'd known that this pitiful small group of cats was soon to be a Clan. Ravenstar figured Mint would be a clever cat.

"No, it's fine. I was actually going to talk to you about that." Every cat and Clan a chance…Lionheart's words rang through Ravenstar's mind.

"Us?" Aria meowed in disbelief.

"You see…" Ravenstar began, telling Aria about the prophecy, and about Bluestar, and all the unbelievable things that had happened to him these past moons.

XXX

"We'll join." Aria meowed determinedly. His kits nodded eagerly. They'd been just as interested as their father. All three of them were parading around boasting about how they of all cats, were going to be apprentices. Ravenstar let out a meow of amusement.

"That's great!" Ravenstar purred, "You four wont be a disappointment to the Clan."

Judging on how Aria had fought Lani, he definitely wouldn't be a disappointment. Lani had only won the short battle…well… because Lani was an extremely strong cat, and Ravenstar hadn't seen her lose a battle once.

The smallest gray she-cat, Mint, walked over to where Nia was standing, and introduced herself. Happy to be getting some attention, Nia eagerly fired off conversation with Mint, most likely hoping to make new friends.

With Aria, Ravenstar had hardly had to tell him about the Clans. Purdy had already beaten him to it, it seemed.

When his group of eleven cats was ready, they took off to find more cats, and to find sun-drown-place.

Purring happily to himself, Ravenstar looked to the sun.

Gee, I sure hope I still have readers! Again, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER!

Oh yeahhh, Aria is kind of a weird cat, if you can't tell by his odd mood swings. But, he's cool. (:
Also, I'm terribly sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, I just really need to get the actual story
going. So the next few chapters will feature Ravenstar just gathering the rest of the kitties!

Reviews would be nice!

xRyu